‘Marcos belongs at the Libingan’

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte reiterated his stance that former President Ferdinand Marcos deserves a burial at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani.

The President made the remark following a meeting with Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos in Laoag City Friday.

The meeting was in time for the launch of the “Kailian March,” a four-day trek from Ilocos Norte to Metro Manila in support of Marcos’ burial.

The Marcos family is anticipating a favorable ruling of the Supreme Court for a hero’s burial for the late President Marcos.

Duterte and Governor Marcos met at the Laoag International Airport after the President’s visit to typhoon-hit Batanes on the same day.

“Batas ‘yan… It is very clear to me na ang (that my) decision ko, tama (is right). As a lawyer, I could only stick to what is the law,” Duterte said.

“President Duterte once again reiterated what he knew to be right as a lawyer: that my father, a soldier, a president, and a war hero, should be buried at the [LNMB],”according to the governor.

The President has repeatedly said in his public speeches that Marcos deserved to be buried at the heroes’ cemetery as a former president and a soldier.

“As a former soldier and former president of the Philippines, I see nothing wrong in having [former President Ferdinand] Marcos buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani,” he said in a press briefing in Davao City on August 7.

Duterte also met with the widows of policemen who died during a police operation against illegal drugs.

The President met with the widows of PO3 Nestor Sadian and PO3 Fernando Sacatrapos Jr., both of Paoay, Ilocos Norte, who both died in a police operation.

The parents of PO3 Omar Nacionales, one of the 44 soldiers of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force slain in the Mamasapano clash in January 2015, also met with the President.